Gazza back in rehab

This is so true. My husband was also a very high flying professional whose descent from 'heavy drinker' to 'non-functioning' fully fledged alcoholic was frightening and traumatic. Loving family, children, friends, a job he loved, none of it made an iota of difference. Thankfully eventually he turned a corner and hasn't touched a drop for a decade and I don't honestly believe he ever will again but he still needs a very strong supportive structure around him to continue managing it. An alcoholic will always be an alcoholic it is just a question of 'managing' it like a diabetic needs to do, Gazza will always need a high level of management if he does stay dry.

Absolutely. My husband would never have succeeded if the support system around him had not been strong. Gazza will need to change his life drastically if he is too succeed and get rid of those around him who constantly enable him. Years ago I could be just as dismissive as some here about the 'self inflicted' mess they get themselves into but I have a much clearer understanding of it now and more empathy towards those still caught up in it. It's a sad way to spend your one and only life.

I really appreciate your informed posts.
Good wishes to you and your family and you have made your point very well.

Gazza seems to have no family or support network nearby to help him. He goes to rehab, goes home and he's alone again, whilst all the friends who've got him into rehab fall away.

Perhaps he'd do better if he moved back to be near his family in Newcastle, or have they washed their hands of him?

From what I remember, his family and friends in Newcastle were either in complete denial or they were enablers. I'm sure that it was his dad who thought it was fine to take him down the pub, as long as he didn't have a drink but sat supping pints in front of him.

Jimmy Greaves knows what he is talking about and I am glad he has been strong enough to battle his demons.

Yeah huge respect to Jimmy Greaves, not only a class act on the pitch but more importantly a class act off it. Gazza would be well advised to speak to Greavsie as 34 years without a drink is evidence of that.

The ignorance on here is astounding. Particuarly regarding Gazza's last pint at the airport.

As has been said, if an alcoholic stops drinking suddeny he can die - that story in the Sun was a complete sham.

Another thing I don't understand is this thing over who 'deserves' sympathy. It seems uttery bizarre to me that so many people are obsessed with this?

I agree. He is a human being, if he can be helped to overcome his illness - and alcoholism is, I've witnessed my stepfather over the last 21 years descend further and further and he is now a shell of himself - then the help should be given. I'm personally not hopeful of a positive outcome but any human in that distressing position should be shown compassion.

I only wish my stepfather had the money - or had wealthy friends - to fund a residential programme where he had conselling and support, nothing has worked so far and that would be his last chance. He desperately doesn't want to be like this - he's currently in the bedroom after a week-long binge and it is a worry for me to have to leave my mother here when I go home in a couple of hours - but he doesn't have the strength or willpower to turn his life around. He's only 60 but doesn't have much of a life, and he was always a hard working, intelligent, very smart looking man. Now he's a shuffling wreck most of the time, in jamas and dressing gown, unshowered and unshaven and it's heartbreaking to see. Deep down, he is a good man and that person is still in there.

I agree. He is a human being, if he can be helped to overcome his illness - and alcoholism is, I've witnessed my stepfather over the last 21 years descend further and further and he is now a shell of himself - then the help should be given. I'm personally not hopeful of a positive outcome but any human in that distressing position should be shown compassion.

I only wish my stepfather had the money - or had wealthy friends - to fund a residential programme where he had conselling and support, nothing has worked so far and that would be his last chance. He desperately doesn't want to be like this - he's currently in the bedroom after a week-long binge and it is a worry for me to have to leave my mother here when I go home in a couple of hours - but he doesn't have the strength or willpower to turn his life around. He's only 60 but doesn't have much of a life, and he was always a hard working, intelligent, very smart looking man. Now he's a shuffling wreck most of the time, in jamas and dressing gown, unshowered and unshaven and it's heartbreaking to see. Deep down, he is a good man and that person is still in there.

Well said. It's a bleak and horrible existence and no one actively chooses it. Some people manage to overcome it and go on to live fulfilled lives, but it's a lifelong challenge and there's no easy route to recovery, longterm or otherwise.

Bleak but probably more realistic than anything any of his ex colleagues/friends have said about him. I also think JG is spot on re Gazza's primary love - not football as a lot of people seem to believe - but being an entertainer and a people pleasing clown.

Alcoholism is when that choice becomes a necessary evil: an addiction.

A chronic illness like multiple Sclerosis does not start out being a recreational choice!

An alcoholic is ill, both mentally and physically but they have to finish what they themselves started.

It seems Jimmy Greaves speaks the most sense on this. Gazza should not be canonised. We have seen his talent but by what definition is he 'a good man' as a few have said on this forum?

If people remember what he did to his ex, he's really quite far from being a 'good man'.

As the Greaves piece says, for Gazza, playing soccer was all about being an 'entertainer' and getting attention. He's a totally different type of alcoholic from George Best, who despite his addiction was a very intelligent man, but he beat his wife as well. Intelligent, but not 'good'.

Jimmy Greaves is so spot on in that article. An alcoholic is an alcoholic forever, its just a question of being a drunk one or a sober one. I think one of things i have gleaned from my experience of being married to one (now thankfully a 'sober' alcoholic) is the enormous capacity an alcoholic has for self-pity, I think in a lot of ways this is what drives them more than anything. I know a lot of alcoholics have had horrific lives and can only cope with the help of a bottle, but many others haven't actually had 'bad lives' and I would put Gazza in the 'pity pot' category. Unless he can rid himself of that mindset he is never going to get better.

If he had only been on a bender for the past few days would he have had such a strong reaction to dettox?

No. If he hadn't drunk for two years that is a detox. He would have had to be drinking a while for his body to get DT's etc.

Quote:

Mr Spanjar called at the former footballer’s home last week after the video became public – and found him ‘in terrible shape’ at 9.30am.
He said: ‘He was certainly under the influence. Physically he had really deteriorated.’
He added that Gascoigne had fallen off the wagon over the past six weeks, saying: ‘At times myself or a colleague would go round to check that he was still alive.
'It seemed as though he had a death wish.’ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/foo...#axzz2KYO7w3z3

He needs to swap the word alcohol with poison. Alcohol is poison to him now. When he goes for a 'pint' its not beer in his system its poison and it will be like forever, even if he doesn't have another drink for the next twenty years.